A Brief History
On April 21, 2021, the Indonesian Navy suffered a tragic “Oops moment” when their German built submarine, KRI Nanggala, sank with all 53 people aboard during a torpedo firing test in the Bali Sea.
Digging Deeper
About 195 feet long and 20 feet wide, the Nanggala was a diesel/electric type of sub, capable of 11 knots on the surface and 25 knots submerged. Commissioned in 1981, the sub carried a punch of eight torpedo tubes in the bow with 14 torpedoes aboard.
Submarines are of course designed to intentionally sink, although they are supposed to then resurface with a live crew. Often times, the hapless crews find that the sub fails to successfully surface and too often the entire crew is lost.
The Nanggala is believed to have suffered a power outage, leading to the disaster, another in a long line of submarine disasters and Naval “Oops moments.”
Note: The name of the ship, Nanggala, means “Divine spear of Prabhu Baladewa,’ a Hindu deity.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Gray, Edwyn. Disasters of the Deep: A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Accidents & Disasters. Pen & Sword Military, 2006.
Parker, John and Francis Crosby. The World Encyclopedia of Submarines: A Complete History of over 150 Underwater Vessels from the Hunley and Nautilus to Today’s Nuclear-Powered Submarines. Lorenz Books, 2023.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of KRI Nanggala underway in the Java Sea, August 2015, is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, it is in the public domain in the United States.
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